


This is Why We Fight

by soloproject



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Gen, Jaegercon Bingo, Pre-Canon, Timeline What Timeline, Tumblr: jaegercon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-19
Updated: 2013-08-20
Packaged: 2017-12-24 00:13:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/932741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soloproject/pseuds/soloproject
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the story of how Mako grows up.</p><p>OR how Mako and Chuck are raised in the cockpit and everything that happens before the Fall.</p><p>For the Jaegercon bingo prompt: Pre-canon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The shock of losing her family to the kaiju only sinks in hours after the fact. It is only after they pry Mako from Ranger Pentecost's arms does she start to process what has happened and the wail she had been holding in rips across the makeshift medic tents set around the perimeter of Tokyo. For two days, Mako lies in the hospital and stares at the pale walls of the ceiling, counting one tile for every intake of breath.

Stacker Pentecost-san comes to hold her hand while the nurses force food and try to keep her hydrated but it is not until the second day that Mako deigns to give him a good look. Devoid of the halo of light and without the adrenaline pumping through her veins, Mako sees that Pentecost-san is just a man. 

To Mako, he radiates safety. When she reaches for him, Pentecost-san takes her hand gingerly out of reverence for her state but when her fingers tighten around his, he allows it.

Mako knows that Pentecost-san has lost people too. She doesn’t understand anything about Jaeger technology but she knows that it takes two pilots to move one. Her parents had gotten her the manga that the PPDC Tokyo Division put out to explain to people how Jaegers worked and how to flee from kaiju.

Mako learns that Pentecost-san’s partner had lost consciousness during the battle. When the nurse takes her for a walk, she sees him discretely drawing a curtain to cover a young woman in a bed with many tubes sticking out of her. Pentecost-san doesn’t seem completely well either but he refuses all attempts at treatment.

 

Mako doesn’t understand the breadth of the Tokyo attack until she leaves the hospital and sees the damage. Onibaba’s remains cast a stink over the downtown area, coating everything in a viscous blue. The countryside and the mountains remain largely untouched and people are slowly evacuating there as cities are rendered Hot Zones. Mako is brought to a PPDC safehouse with some very kind personnel to look after her but she largely ignores them, caught up with watching recordings the Onibaba attack, hoping to catch a glimpse of Coyote Tango fighting the kaiju.

The rage comes later, both confusing and exhausting. The grief counselor is present and intent on helping her cry or act out; anything to help cast out emotions but instead Mako breathes and counts, bottling up her emotions and saving it for later. She’s young but she has a purpose now. She wants to fight kaiju.

Pentecost-san comes a few weeks later to offer her adoption. It takes two days before she finds the nerve to ask about his co-pilot. “Will I meet Tamsin-san?”

Pentecost-san is silent for a long time but he eventually nods. “When you are both ready,” he promises.

 

Pentecost-san makes good on his promise. He takes Mako on a very long flight to an island called Hawaii that manages to avoid kaiju attacks thus far, probably because of its location in the mid-Pacific. The UN and the PPDC have recalled part of it as a safe haven for recovering Jaeger Rangers. It used to be a very famous port during the World Wars, Pentecost-san tells her. There is a large cemetery for the fallen. 

Tamsin cries and hugs Mako when she sees her. She’s looks frail and her hair had started falling out but her eyes are sharp and she has a wealth of smiles for Mako. When Pentecost-san hugs  
Tamsin-san, Mako burns the image into her head but Tamsin insists on taking pictures of the three of them, even in her state. 

Hawaii could have been a good place to raise Mako. But Stacker Pentecost is returning to help run the Jaeger program out of the newly instated Jaeger Academy and Mako will be damned if she is made to leave his side. She negotiates until Pentecost-san gives in, his brow rising at the first indication of his new ward’s intellect. 

 

There are terms. 

Under Pentecost-san’s watch, Mako studies and works; she’s as smart as Pentecost-san predicted and the retention rate of her tutors is low. When Pentecost-san is not at the Academy, they move from Shatterdome to Shatterdome as each opens. Peru, Alaska, Vladivostok all look the same but Mako takes a shine to each one, mesmerized by the level of activity. The staff and crew indulge her and the Rangers are willing to tell her stories about their battles. Pentecost-san doesn’t allow candy unless it’s a special occasion but the staff and crew of the Shatterdomes sneak her what they can. Mako loves chocolate.

There are few kids in the Shatterdomes but Mako stands apart. Pentecost-san—Sensei, she calls him now—doesn’t give special treatment but Mako knows she is different. They aren’t always together. Sometimes Mako is with Tamsin-san on the island, sometimes with a tutor but most people she keeps at arm’s length, no matter how many questions she wants to ask.

The trauma lingers. Some nights are better than others and the nightmares come often. Sensei held her hand the first few nights but later he teaches her to do katas or go for runs until she’s worn out. Tai chi, wing chun, taekwondo, aikido, yoga…Mako learns all the disciplines except the one she really wants to learn: Jaeger bushido. She wants to be good but Sensei says she cannot drift until she is at peace with her emotions and accepting of her experiences. It’s too dangerous to share a mind with a person who is not ready to stare upon the face of death. The drift is silence; Mako trains herself to be quiet, to move quietly, despite the turbulence in her mind.

On the rare occasion Mako is allowed to accompany Sensei to the Academy, mostly for demonstrations in the Kwoon, she is only allowed to observe the proceedings. She must not talk, she must not move. It is part of her discipline. 

“The Art of War,” Sensei says, opening the lesson, his deep voice bouncing off the walls of the Kwoon. He’s a big man and years of experience are etched in every muscle of his body. “It is a matter of life or death, a road either to safety or ruin. Don’t forget that.” Sensei swoops the bo staff around, so it spins independently against the palm of his hand, smooth as flowing water yet perfectly under control. 

“Whether or not, we are fighting men or kaiju,” Sensei says, studying the four men who position themselves around him, bodies tightly coiled and at the ready. “Never forget the five decisive factors of war: the moral law—“ 

The first man dives and swipes his weapon at Sensei’s feet. Sensei knocks him down in two moves and uses the butt of his weapon to keep him down.

“Heaven,” Sensei says, all but leaping over the head of the second man and swiping his feet out from under him. “And Earth.”

“Method and discipline.” The third man does a flip off the wall, throwing his body at Sensei who sidesteps and thrusts the end of the staff at pressure points, one and two.

“And your commander,” Sensei says. The last man, a red-headed Australian Ranger, holds out the longest, enough that the fight starts to seem more like a dance. Ranger Hansen even manages to make Sensei break into a sweat but loses in the end.

Sensei helps the four men to their feet, grasping the Australian’s wrist a bit longer in a show of comradeship. They all bow to each other and move to the side.

“There is talk that the Jaeger program is going to being decommissioned.” Sensei says. “And I know that many of you agree or disagree. I agree to disagree. I don’t prefer to hide. And I know many of you may prefer the same. There will come a time when we will no longer be an army, but the resistance. Work hard, Rangers. Dismissed.”

Mako closes her eyes and breathes, listening to Sensei’s voice in her head. She imagines herself on the mat, swinging her own staff at him, matching him move for move. Mako has started studying xenophysics, biology, Drift tech and engineering with a lot of dedication but working in the Kwoon is a step towards finding a co-pilot. She’s young but the war clock is ticking and the sooner she learns as much as she can, the faster she can enlist.

“What have you learned today?” Sensei asks, taking the towel and a bottle of water Mako hands him.

Mako starts to reply in Japanese but the look Sensei gives her makes her switch to English, which is good, though her accent is thick. “The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their leader, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.” 

 

“ _Tsugi_ ,” Pentecost-san urges.“[Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons. Earth is comprised of distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.]” Mako repeats the two sentences in passable Mandarin and Pentecost-san nods his approval.

“Good, next.”

“[Through method and discipline, we run an army with proper delegation, ranks, resources, and leadership.]” Mako attempts in mangled German. It’s a hard language and she knows she’ll never master it. Her face heats up a little but Sensei just waits, patiently.

“And the Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness,” Mako finishes in English. 

They stand together in the empty Kwoon as a world of understanding settles around their shoulders like a cloak. 

Mako knows Sensei will soon no longer only responsible for her but also the PPDC and the protection of the world. He depends on her to act mature, to study hard, and to pull her weight. Sensei is the only other father and protector she has known but she can help to protect many, if she can get there. Sensei is not a demonstrative man but he is and always will be, her Sensei.

A fixed point.

“Do you understand, Mori-san?” Pentecost says, his voice a rare, gentle tone.

Mako nods, “Yes, Marshal.” 

 

They stay at the Tokyo Shatterdome for a while, while the plans for the Sydney Shatterdome get underway. It’s nice to be able to talk to people in her own language and lose herself in the work. In Tokyo, Mako makes herself useful and learns everything she can from the crew grabbing every opportunity to understand everything thoroughly.

Her heart breaks a little when she sees the remains of the Coyote Tango in its hangar. It looks like a corpse but when she drops her ideas for reconstruction, they tell her it’s headed to Oblivion Bay. 

The atmosphere in Tokyo is electric, as people get on the Jaeger versus Kaiju bandwagon fast. The appearance of Kaiju means there are a lot of people in Tokyo wanting to give the world a giant fuck-you-we-called-it message. They’ve capitalized on the theory for decades and there is a growing discipline of pop culture conspiracy trend that’s catching fire in the academe. It’s the second fastest growing economy after arms dealing. 

A German-American scientist named Newton Geiszler appears at the Tokyo Shatterdome and his manic energy is infectious. His Japanese is terrible, straight out of shounen manga, and he has the early makings of yakuza style tattoo sleeves that are meant to be kaiju. The media starts calling the field K-science and this Dr. Geiszler, Boy Genius from MIT, has come straight out of Jaeger Academy owning the fact. He disappears after arranging for the transfer of pieces of Onibaba and Reckoner back to the Unites States and his luggage is bulging with random vending machine crap and bootleg DVDs.

There are several new Jaeger designs waiting to be funded and built. It’s become a thing, giving money to build Jaegers and every rich man and socialite wants to be attached to what will become the country’s greatest firepower and biggest national champion. There are terrible reality shows on TV of spoiled teenagers asking for Jaegers on their birthday instead of luxury sports cars and fathers gullible enough to try and give it to them. Robot cartoons is making a comeback and sometimes it makes Mako sick, when they mock monsters and fetishize them. Her mother and father are dead and every night, Mako dreams of killing kaiju.

 

There is a dark side. The black market is out of control and areas rendered unlivable by kaiju contamination are getting bigger. The boneslums are getting larger and more dangerous and it if it’s not enough that people are fighting for their lives, suicide rates are at an all time high and there is not enough healthcare for everyone. Economic status dictates the efficiency of the emergency response and kaiju attacks get precedence, which means everyone is pushed back. PR teams are running around trying to amplify hope and boost morale. Rangers are like rock stars but the caveat is they have to win and they do, mostly. For now.

On the flipside, the Church of the Breach has come out of nowhere with a growing cult of followers who think they will be spared if they submit to the kaiju. The Catholic Church seems to think the human race is being punished for their sins and the Vatican City falls silent. 

Dr. Newton Geiszler goes in front of the United States Senate to share his findings about the kaiju and how they are going to get bigger as time goes by and that they need to redirect funding into the Jaeger program. He’s shot down as a fanatic; a Church of the Breach sympathizer, even though he’s has six doctorates and is a card-carrying member of the Jaeger Academy and the PPDC. Never mind that Newton is fast becoming the foremost expert in kaiju at the moment, his skinny jeans and his tattoos don’t help impress anyone. Despite being backed by a formidable chunk of the scientific community and Stacker Pentecost himself, Newton gets louder and brighter and more tattooed the more resistance and naysayers he meets.

 

Mako is logging in some work hours, up to her elbows in tangled wires and circuit boards. Dr. Hermann Gottleib has finally finished coding the interface of what’s going the newest Mark V Jaeger but her and a young tech fresh out of the academy named Tendo Choi need to up the processing power for it to work properly. After screwing the last of the panels on, she surfaces, coming face to face with a scowling young man. He can’t be more than 12 or 13 but his skinny body and his unruly hair make him seem younger.

“Who the fuck are you?” He demands. “What are you doing in her?!” He’s holding on to a struggling bulldog pup.

“Rude,” Mako snaps back, in Japanese. “I’m working here, get out of my way.”

“Chuck!” A voice bounces off the hangar. “Chuck, where’ve you run to? Don’t make me come there and get you, boy!” 

It’s Ranger Hansen, the red-headed Australian Jaeger pilot who had fought Sensei in the Academy’s Kwoon. He climbs the scaffolding with little effort, sparing a look at Mako and nodding at Tendo Choi, who tosses off a salute.

“They’re leaving the upkeep of my Jaeger to this girl!” Chuck scowls darkly.

“It’s not your Jaeger and we need all the help we can get at this point,” Hansen says, his jaw moving in what seemed to be a long practiced show of patience. “Get down or I’ll make you get down,” Hansen reaches up and yanks Chuck back by his collar. “And you can’t have Max here, what if he falls. Or gets hurt?”

Chuck’s face twitches and he turns away, face dark. Mako realizes who he is— Chuck Hansen, kaiju orphan. Mako breathes deeply to calm herself, watching as Chuck storms off. When her head feels clear, Tendo flips a wrench at her.

“Let’s get out of here; we’ve done all we can for now.” Tendo says. He’s the kindest of all the techs and also the quirkiest—his hair is always slicked back in a retro style and he has a rosary wrapped around his left wrist. 

Tendo tells her that Chuck’s a regular chip off the old block, just a version that’s snarly and angry. He’s thin and scrappy and hasn’t quite forgiven his father for picking him over his mother when Scissure attacked Sydney. Chuck swaggers all over the Shatterdome like he owns it, so there’s no indication that he’s hurting. Mako can see plainly that Chuck relishes following orders, dreams of becoming a ranger like Mako. Clearly the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, even if it’s the wrong fruit. On the rare day they can have a quiet meal together, Sensei tells her Chuck may never become a Ranger, he’s been allowed to run wild far too long and his grief makes him violent. Mako thinks otherwise; it may not be a bad trait for a Jaeger pilot.

“Be kind to him,” Sensei advises her, while they finish their tea. 

It’s good advice that goes both ways because Mako is intelligent, focused and driven but also short-tempered. The only people she gets along with are the infinitely patient, like Ranger Hansen and Tendo, or the strong-willed like the K-scientists.

She especially likes Dr. Gottleib and Dr. Geiszler who are amazing to watch in action. They scream at each other and debate passionately all day long, terrifying the other members of the research team, which is getting smaller by the day. Dr. Geiszler has terrible lab etiquette but he lets Mako help instead of observe, prattling all day long about kaiju physiology or telling her his increasingly elaborate theories about the beasts. When he’s on the decline after a long and exhausting K-science problem-solving marathon, he tells her how conflicted he feels about loving kaiju but at the end of the day, he hands over all his calculations on where they can be hit hardest.

Dr. Geiszler also keeps huge hard drives, terabytes of hoarded anime and digital copies of manga, Western TV shows and German movies that go as far back as anyone can remember. People trade him good coffee and American candy for pornography—“Art Film Erotica, okay, Dr. Gottleib, let’s keep it classy in front of the ladies,” he snaps while Dr. Gottleib snorts his derision.

Dr. Gottleib is different. He’s in love with numbers and is happy to beleft alone with them all day. If he could’ve been a Ranger—there’s no questioning his mental aptitude but thanks to his condition, Gottleib’s been pushed around all his life by jocks and their ilk and so he focused instead on tuning his mind. In the classroom or the laboratory or the research facility, there is no one his equal, no matter how much Dr. Geiszler needles or challenges him.

Their interactions have a pithy air to them. Dr. Gottleib barely acknowledges Mako but leaves half-finished equations for her to figure out. They’re always hard, which Mako appreciates. He never deigns to pander to her age, and even if it takes her days to solve, there’s always a new one waiting for her.

Best of all, Dr. Gottleib has books, a vast collection kept in a huge trunk that he insists on dragging from post to post. He lets her take them one at a time. Textbooks and theory, self-help and more are available on the large shared Shatterdome database but Dr. Gottleib has beautiful editions bound in leather and lovingly maintained of fables and fairytales, science fiction paperbacks and even a near-mint condition Superman issue # 1 that he refuses to let her touch. Mako’s favourite story so far is Jack the Giant-Killer.

Getting along with Chuck Hansen serves as more of a challenge but they are always almost the only two adolescents in the Shatterdome at any given time so it’s inevitable that they are lumped together. Chuck can always be heard swearing a wide streak that ends with him getting grounded in his quarters, complaining loudly about when he gets to go to Jaeger Academy. When he’s not making himself heard, Chuck is grimly pacing the Shatterdome with Max trotting behind him but sometimes Mako sees him peeking over at her, wanting to be included but running away before it can happen.

It’s a test, Mako thinks, to try and be friends. It’s easier not to have them but Sensei frowns when she complains about it. Chuck is an orphan too. His father is always away, fighting battles and then coming back, testing Jaegers, testing Drift technology, training cadets, and arguing long and hard with his co-pilot and Chuck’s uncle Scott, who is funny when he’s sober and belligerent when he is drunk. Herc is serious and responsible and has no idea how to deal with children but Scott is warm and affectionate. Chuck adores him and is gleefully worshipful on the rare occasion that Scott Hansen is around. Mako thinks that Chuck imagines himself in his father’s stead, as Scott’s co-pilot, swashbuckling around the world like that Indiana Jones in those movies Dr. Geiszler made her watch one time but that she didn’t really like. She feels sorry when Herc watches, quietly on the side as Chuck runs circles around his uncle and never once gives his father a hug.

If they can’t be friends, Mako decides, they’ll be rivals and they are, to an extent. Dr. Geiszler tutors them together sometimes and Chuck is smart, almost as smart as Mako is but he always stalks off when the conversation turns to discussing probabilities in imaginary tech in the latest episode of Macross or whether or not Cardcaptor Sakura is the second-best magical girl anime. Chuck is good with numbers too but Dr. Gottleib is even less tolerant of him, probably sensing in Chuck the ghost of all his past tormentors. Despite that, Chuck can solve a rubix cube in less than 30 seconds so they have a grudging respect of one another.

Neither Gottleib nor Geiszler enjoy having Max in the lab, which is always a dealbreaker for Chuck who thinks Max is God’s gift from heaven.

Marshal Pentecost has his hands full trying to keep everyone going. Mako does her part, helping Tendo pack for deployment to the next Shatterdome in Sydney Harbor. She trains as much as she can—Mako is finally going to Jaeger Academy but she is only going the only honorable way she knows—with Sensei’s blessing.

The day Mako is finally allowed to enlist in Jaeger Academy, it seems everyone in the Tokyo Shatterdome comes by to pay their respects. There’s a lot of bowing and shaking hands. Tendo stops by to give her standard issue Ranger duffel that the Marshal has asked him to pick up from the black market. There is a large chocolate bar and a good amount of her favourite tea at the bottom, which Mako is sure isn’t part of the list.

She would have liked to have her last dinner with the Marshal to be a quiet affair but the crew won’t hear of it. She gets a cake in the cafeteria--- chocolate, naturally—and the gesture touches her. It’s hard enough to come by chocolate, let alone eggs and flour. Ranger Hansen hands her an old RAAF Ka-Bar knife and makes a shushing gesture with his finger to his lips. Dr. Gottleib hands her a worn copy of The Art of War with a slightly water-damaged red silk cover and Dr. Geiszler gives her a tablet with “stuff” on it.

Mako is packed and ready in her Jaeger cadet uniform, waiting for the chopper with the Marshal when she spots Chuck hovering near the hangar bay door. Max is snuffling at his feet, still mostly asleep. It’s 4 AM but Mako knows Chuck is used to it; they are both used to living on the edge of sleep.

She opens her mouth to say something but upon closer inspection, Chuck’s eyes are red and a little puffy. Wisely, she stays silent.

“Next year, Mori,” Chuck growls, his voice cracking in the right place. He pushes past her and stomps away. It’s the closest to a good luck she’ll ever get from him.

“Remember your lessons,” is the only thing Sensei tells her before she bows low and lingering and then gets on the chopper.

 


	2. Chapter 2

The first year of Jaeger Academy is tough but Mako all but breezes through it. The lessons, the physical challenges are nothing. She has learned everything she can about kaiju from Dr. Geiszler, about breach physics from Dr. Gottleib, about Jaeger tech from Tendo and his crew. She knows what makes a good leader and bad leader and she knows how to fight. 

What she wants to do is kill kaiju.

Even at the Academy, Mako stands apart. She does well in simulations but is incompatible with most of her fellow cadets. A lot of them have already enlisted in pairs, a legacy started by the current rock stars of the Jaeger Ranger world, the Becket Boys. It is a formula that seems to be working for many Jaeger co-pilots since but puts Mako at a slight disadvantage. By the second half of the year, the class is down to half its size with Mako alone at the top. She’s not even fully capable of universal Drift compatibility the way Herc Hansen is known for, so testing Jaegers is off the table for now.

She gets taller and tougher during her time at the Academy, even graduating to help instruct Jaeger bushido classes. It’s still largely unsatisfying. Students bloom under her instruction but none of them are drift compatible with her. She helps match Jaeger teams, has a good eye for that sort of thing but it’s not where Mako wants to be.

The other cadets keep her at arm’s length. There are many who try to make like they’re drift compatible with her but Mako knows that’s only to try to get ahead of the game, maybe win the favour of Marshal Pentecost. Anyone can be a ranger but it’s a competitive field with a high mortality rate. There are not enough Jaegers for pilots to fill so it’s crucial to find the best match of man to machine. 

There is a lot of buzz surrounding Raleigh and Yancy Becket and their newly minted Gipsy Danger. For all intents and purposes, they seem for the most part just two ordinary country boys, average across the board. But their synchronization rates are some of the highest and most stable in the PPDC and their apple pie good looks and easy-going attitude does not hurt the street cred of the US Jaeger team. As far as national heroes go, the United States could do a lot worst. She hears that Sensei has helped mentor them and the jealousy she feels is palpable. They do very well in simulations and not even a year goes by when Yamarashi attacks Los Angeles and the Becket Boys take it down in a little under seven hours. 

There are other teams: the Russian brother and sister team, Sasha and Pavel, take over one of the oldest Mark I and produce some of the longest uninterrupted drift sequences until Pavel is killed in a freak non-kaiju related accident. But then Sasha gets married to Aleksis Kaidonovsky and they continue defending the Russian border in the Cherno Alpha, and Sasha continues to generate results for some of the longest, most stable neural handshakes in ranger history, setting the benchmark for ranger teams all over the world.

There are plenty of Ranger and kaiju myths and urban legends that go around. In the girl’s dormitory, lewd romance novels where the protagonists are drift compatible get passed around. Mako gets up the courage to download one onto her tablet but she deletes it three chapters in. At the Tokyo Shatterdome, there was a lot of joking about people being “kaijusexual” and pictures of paraphernalia getting tacked up in common rooms as jokes, sexy Jaeger pilot pin-ups and the like and there is a lot of doujinshi about Jaeger co-pilots in love with each other or experiencing forbidden love with kaiju. One tech crew giggles over one about the love of Herc and Scott Hansen and Mako all but rips it out of their hands and ran away with it. Sensei finds her feeding it to the Shatterdome incinerator page by page.

In retrospect, it was around the same time Sensei hinted that she should maybe try to make friends.

Pentecost spends less time at the Academy and more time arguing with world governments about the feasibility of continuing the Jaeger Project. Mako reads between the lines of his emails and knows it’s fast becoming a losing battle.

Mako stands among the small group of cadets in her class and they watch the recruitment lines for the new cycle. It’s considerably smaller than the previous batch and Mako doesn’t know what she’s looking for exactly until she sees it: Chuck Hansen is in line.

Sometime in the year she didn’t see him, he shot well past her height and has gained some muscle. Chuck looks different without Max dogging his heels but he also looks like he’s meant to be there. Mako nods at him when their eyes meet but he just smirks at her and moves ahead. There will be a mixer later for new enlisters and it is inevitable they will run into each other then.

Chuck and Mako run into each other again. And again. And again. What’s meant to be an intense but slow second year of specialization for Mako sometimes seems more like some kind of manga comedy where Chuck’s leg is always somehow sticking out to trip her or she loses the requisition sheet for his new uniforms and he has to wear them two sizes too big. 

Mako’s supposed to be working on several projects, her dissertations, the equivalent of combined master’s degrees in engineering and robotics but she’s also instructing classes on Jaeger tactics and stratagem for the first years, all of which are dominated by Chuck yawning and half asleep at the back of the class. If possible, Chuck is more cocksure and arrogant than ever but the arguments he writes are airtight and his grades consistently top the class (though not as good as hers, Mako thinks smugly). Chuck neither comes in late nor puts in more effort than he has to. Chuck has admirers, people who know him as the son and nephew of the Hansen brothers and more than enough girls and boys throwing themselves at his feet but he largely ignores or dismisses them.

As far as Mako can tell, Chuck has few friends at the Academy, no more than he can use them. That’s a bad habit of the best Jaeger pilots, Mako supposes. She’s no psychologist but if she had to call it Chuck’s a single-minded, highly driven perfectionist—just like her. 

Sensei always taught her to think ahead and Mako knows, on days when she’s feeling especially anxious, that Chuck’s confident because there’s already a Jaeger waiting for him. Unlike her, Chuck’s a perfect soldier.

Mako’s still teaches Jaeger bushido, the 52 moves that Jaeger pilots master that make the best and most use of the Jaeger’s mobility and functionality. To pilot a Jaeger, one has to be in flawless shape. It’s taxing; the Conn-Pod is a shell that requires the whole body to move, no matter how much help you get from your co-pilot or how much more advanced the technology becomes. Mako knows that Chuck’s already mastered Jaeger bushido so she won’t pit him against other cadets so she’s surprised when he comes over to face her on the mat.

“Well, c’mon. Let’s have at it,” Chuck drawls. His starting point is always a boxer’s stance, just like his father and uncle. Jaeger fighting between co-pilots is typically how to figure out drift compatibility. You can feel in the muscle if equal tension, equal pressure is used, if moves are in sync with each other and if the body finds itself ready to receive the attack of the other. Pair dancing is another way to figure out drift compatibility but has a rehearsed element and an intimacy that Mako isn’t comfortable with. It’s more useful for learning attack choreography.

Chuck throws the first blow and Mako sidesteps it. It’s followed by a spinning kick, one two and then three, showing a level of flexibility and agility that she wasn’t ready for. Chuck manages to get a strike in and it hurts, more than necessary but Mako know they weren’t compatible from the start anyway.

Chuck is trying to tell her something else. They spar for a while, a little audience gathering around to watch them. Mako can’t help but grin and she sees Chuck is grinning too. It’s normal, because few people are up to their level in fighting so exertion for either of them is rare. But Chuck can also hit harder than her and she’s going to have more than a few bruises in the morning. He’s none too gentle when he traps her in an arm bar but he lets go right away when she taps out.

“You’re faster and heavier, that’s good,” Mako says. Chuck cracks his neck and then bends over in half to hug his legs without bending his knees. “And more flexible.” It’s the fighting style that the tech research has been devising for the Striker Eureka. “You’ve been helping test the Striker?” Mako feels her face heat up at the longing tone in her voice.

Chuck straightens and smirks at her. “She’s mine. I can feel it.”

In 2018, when Chuck is petitioning to be deployed, the Crimson Typhoon is launched, China’s pride and glory. It’s piloted by triplets and Mako spends hours reading tech briefs and operating manuals and sending long-winded emails to Tendo and Dr. Gottleib and Dr. Geiszler about its specs. Cheung, Hu and Jin Wei Tang were all at Jaeger Academy the same time Dr. Gottleib had enlisted and he helped Dr. Caitlin Lightcap, inventor of the Pons, configure it for three people. China releases a promotional video of the triplets, showing them moving as one, playing basketball, vigilant in the upkeep of their Jaeger, from humble beginnings but presented as scrappy and appealing saviors of world.

“Bloody waste, though, you could just use two of them and kept one as back-up but they insist not to be separated,” Dr. Gottleib’s email says. His messages are sparse and devoid of personal frills.

Tendo sends her the action figure of Crimson Typhoon when it comes out. Mako already has the Gipsy Danger on her desk.

Category III kaiju, codenamed “Clawhook” attacks San Diego and the Becket Boys put it down to much fanfare. But there is dissension in the PPDC ranks and her emails from Sensei are short and to the point. He wants to her to stay at Academy, keep contributing. Stay useful, Mako, your time will come. 

Mako is starting to feel like she’s being held back from a greater purpose but she keeps her head down and she studies and she teaches and she works.

The Striker Eureka is unveiled, shiny and out of the box without a scratch, on the same day the UN starts discussions of pulling funding out from under the PPDC. Mako doesn’t need to drift with Sensei to know what’s going on in his head but she knows it’s taking a lot out of him. His chemo treatments have started up again and he’s taking his meds—outwardly he looks the same but in a moment when he thinks no one is looking, Mako can see how old this war is making him. Much to Chuck’s frustration, the Striker Eureka stands at rest in the Sydney Shatterdome for months while bureaucrats argue about its deployment.

Manila happens.

Gipsy Danger, Horizon Brave and—finally-- the Striker Eureka are deployed to confront the worst kaiju to exit the breach yet: Category IV, codenamed Hundan. Mako and the other cadets, watch the footage as it takes three Jaegers to bring it down. Horizon Brave is a Mark I heavy hitter but is all but tossed aside like a piece of trash. Gipsy and Striker fare better and although Mako has a soft spot for Gipsy Danger, she can’t help but admire Striker’s speed and accuracy. 

“Fucking old men,” Chuck mutters next to her, body coiled in thinly disguised fury. “They’re wasting opportunities here, there’re plenty of openings.” Mako has to agree. Whatever Herc and Scott are thinking, they aren’t using Striker’s mobility to the fullest. It’s fast but it can be faster and more accurate. Chuck’s anger is enough that people start inching away from him.

Manila is devastated. Luzon is an island at sea level and much of the city is now quite under it. Crimson Typhoon is shown standing faithful guard should the kaiju move closer to Hong Kong but in the end Striker pins it under a building and Gipsy empties her plasma clip into its mouth. 

It’s safe to say Christmas has been cancelled.

Mako and Chuck return to the Hong Kong Shatterdome to help with Jaeger repairs but much of the time is spent learning how to cheat at cards from the triplets and playing two-on-two basketball while Chuck stomps and glares and yells at his dad about not being picked to pilot the Striker.

“But we’re drift compatible!” Chuck more or less shouts from inside the Conn-pod of the Striker. Hercules looks exhausted and fatigued and throws his hands up in defeat.

“Chuck is ready to be a pilot,” Sensei tells her in his office. “But you can imagine this is not the life Herc has imagined for him.”

”Maybe he has set enough of an example for his offspring to want to follow in his footsteps,” Mako snaps back. She bows and leaves his office.

Yancy Becket dies in Anchorage, while Mako and Chuck are still in Hong Kong. The Marshal had gone to help support the protection of that sector of the Miracle Mile but the kaiju was fast and it destroyed Gipsy Danger in the worst possible way. Mako listens to gossip of Yancy being ripped out while still connected and then his consciousness had allowed Raleigh to pilot the Jaeger back to shore by himself. Mako wonders what kind of man Raleigh Becket is that allowed him to accomplish such a feat on his own. There isn’t time to ask about him because soon after he all but vanishes off the face of the earth.

In a way, Mako can’t forgive the Becket Boys. When Yancy died, it was like he took his Jaeger and his brother down with him.

Scott Hansen is dishonorably discharged from the PPDC soon after. Everything is in shambles because the UN has started cutting funding out from under them and the Jaegers are being decommissioned one after another one. Mako is worried because the doctor says that Sensei is getting worse, not better and he could die before they win and everyone will be lost. But the Marshall just wraps up his business with the UN and leaves them, starts discussions with private funders and starts corralling Jaegers to work for him. It’s not hard because there are a lot of people who are happy to profit from a little more war.

Chuck is one of those profiteers. He finally gets to pilot the Striker Eureka and it’s performing better than ever. Inside the Conn-pod, father and son are a dream team but outside of the Jaeger, Chuck is insufferable. Mako almost prefers his tightly-wound anger to his cocksure, overly confident swagger and she’s pretty sure Herc and even Sensei prefer it too. She can deal with angry Chuck. But every time she sees Chuck suit up and swagger toward the Striker Eureka hangar bay with Max close behind him, the hole in her heart gets bigger.

With the Jaeger program now running independently, Mako is working harder than ever. She runs all over Shatterdomes all over the world, helping calibrate, fix, study and upgrade the last few Jaeger they have left. It’s not easy and there is so much to do but she grits her teeth and goes up againstbureaucratic roadblocks, horrible PR, moody scientists, and tired and underpaid tech support crews. The worst days are when she has to help shut down a Shatterdome, ship a Jaeger to another place, or worse, to Oblivion Bay where all her dreams lay dead or dying.

The research team dwindles down to two: Dr. Gottleib and Dr. Geiszler—“Call me, Newton, kiddo”—are all that’s left of the old crew. They are as formidable and argue harder than ever. Newton’s tattoos cover him completely now and he lets Mako see them with undisguised glee. They follow her to the Anchorage Shatterdome so Newton can make vaguely orgasmic noises over Knifehead detritus they’re still fishing out of the ocean even years after the fact but they have to get it out of the waters. The kaiju remains are toxic and have been slowly affecting the fishing industry. 

“Hey, Miz Mori,” Tendo drawls at her, sticking his head into one of the blueprint rooms off the LOCCENT. “The Marshall requests the pleasure of your company. And mine, if I do say so myself.” He winks at her and then heads back down the hall, whistling. He’s come a long way from being just a mechanic; Tendo’s now CTO of the PPDC. Many of them continue to wear PPDC standard issue but Tendo likes to wear bowties and suspenders most days. His relentless optimism is one of the pillars of their fractured Shatterdome community and Mako is grateful for his loyalty to Sensei.

Pentecost is sitting behind his desk, studying a report on his tablet, He looks up when Mako and Tendo enter and doesn’t wait for them to sit. He pulls up a tube and unravels a roll of paper from it, spreading it on his desk. 

“Oh hey,’ Tendo says, recognizing it immediately.

“Gipsy Danger,” Mako says, barely unable to disguise her excitement. “But she’s gone to Oblivion Bay.”

“Right now it’s the only mostly intact Mark III we have there. I’ve been able to convince the UN not to scrap her and take her back for reconstruction. Her bones are still good,” Pentecost says. “What do you think?” He asks them.

Tendo nods, rubbing his face with one hand. “If you think we can get the resources, maybe scrap some of the other Jaegers, we can fix her. Last I heard, her processing unit was still intact and they salvaged out most her weapons before they moved her out to Oblivion Bay.”

Mako vibrates in place while waiting for Sensei’s answer. She can guess what it is but she wants to hear it from him.

Pentecost looks up at her. “We don’t have Jaegers to spare but I think we can put this one back together. She was once a beautiful machine.” He says. “How would you like to fix her?”

Mako’s eyes are wide and she nods right away.

“I’ll do it on one condition: I get to pilot her,” Mako says.

Pentecost studies her carefully and he’s quiet for a long time.

Then he nods.

“Alright.”

Mako practically floats all the way to her quarters. It’s not a perfect scenario but Mako has practically guaranteed herself a Jaeger. It’s going to take years to fix Gipsy and she may not have enough time. The kaiju could destroy the world before she finishes but so far it’s her best shot.

Chuck snorts into his pudding when the news gets around. He’s sitting at the table with his dad and Tendo and Mako, listening to Tendo rattle off ideas about how to arm Gipsy and how the Mark III specs were as close to a perfectly balanced Jaeger.

“Striker’s faster,” Chuck says defensively.

“Yeah but Gipsy had weight. Lighter than the Mark Ones and perfectly suited to both long range and melee fighting; Striker’s a skinny, blonde model next to the Gipsy Danger—she’s a slapper.” Tendo grins around a mouthful of steamed dumpling. “Don’t feel bad, though, Chuckie-boy, you’re still the leader of this pack.”

“Damn right, my supermodel’s gonna catwalk all over every kaiju who tries to knock on my door,” Chuck says, feeding Max off his plate. “Who ya gonna get to pilot it?”

“Me,” Mako says, unable to keep the steel from her voice. “She’s mine.”

“Good fucking luck finding a co-pilot then, mate,” Chuck snorts, getting up to bus his tray.

Gipsy Danger is shipped over to Anchorage and laid out in a huge abandoned warehouse. It’s cold as hell during the winter months and it’s hard to work wearing such puffy layers but Mako is having the time of her life. If she doesn’t get to pilot it, she thinks, it’ll be worth it because she’d live to see Gipsy restored at the very least. 

“We can update the code, get some new hardware manufactured,” Tendo says, as he and Mako do a circuit around the Jaeger. It’s so big; it takes almost a half-hour to walk around it. Mako is using a tablet, taking copious notes and snapping pictures with it. Tendo leaves that part to her; he prefers an old-fashioned clipboard and fountain pen. 

“I know a guy,” Tendo says, chewing the end of his pen.

“We need to stabilize its reactor, maybe hybridize sections with electricity.”

“That’s too risky, we won’t have any time to properly test motor function coordination and lifespan but I’ll make a note of it. If some sections are remotely powered, we could up the safety levels,” Tendo says, marking it down.

“Yes, get the Conn-pod’s life-system support optimized, we can modify it.”

“Weapons? Plasma cannon, we gotta keep that. That’s a classic.”

“It took too long to power up. She could use something prehensile, maybe more missiles.”

Later, she, Tendo, and Newton grab a quick meal in the common room while watching old Voltron reruns.

“Can you imagine a five person neural link-up? Like a smaller Jaeger, that a solo pilot can handle. The neural load of a small machine—“

“Thought a lot about this, aincha?” Tendo laughs.

“—SHUT THE FUCK UP, no, listen! Five smaller machines that combine into a super machine that’s capable of sub-orbital flight.” Newton ends in an upward screech, hands waving around emphatically, spraying crumbs everywhere. “And I mean, check it out, he’s got cannons, he’s got a sword, that’s what a Jaeger needs, a sword, a big fucking slicer to behead some kaiju. It’s a clean kill.”

Tendo snorts. “And where are you going to sheath a goddamn big enough sword on a goddamn Jaeger? It’ll be a lumpin’ battle liability. Jaeger’ll trip over its weapon and impale himself on it and we’d lose.”

“No! Swords are awesome. Mark that down on your old-timey clipboard, Choi. Jaeger sword. Crimson Typhoon’s blades, they do a lot of damage but you gotta get in that close. And and and while I am NOT mocking Chinese manufacturing styles here but the Crimson Typhoon, you know she’s top-heavy, I’m surprised it can stand upright with an EXTRA. ARM. I’m just sayin’, I’m just sayin’.” Newton says. “I’ve never been a boob man, you know.”

“That’s what the triple-jointed, hydraulic limb system is for,” Dr. Gottleib says, coming in and settling down with a groan. “The Wei Tang fighting style, they fight low to the ground, strong footwork. The hip system,” Dr. Gottleib says, rubbing his problematic left thigh. “—turns 360 degrees to make full use of its momentum.”

“Seemed like a good idea at the time,” Tendo says.

“It works for them,” Mako defends. She likes the triplets and they are always tolerant of her, even inclusive. “They haven’t lost yet.”

“The Crimson Typhoon was custom made for them, big deal.” Chuck says, coming in suddenly. He looks like a deadly attractive Top Gun pin-up with his hat and his bomber jacket and aviator shades, Max following close-by. “No one else in the world could pilot that flashy piece. They have no back-up pilots. Now if two of them piloted--”

“As I’ve been saying for the past few years—“ Dr. Gottlieb snorts into his coffee.

“Hey, Hansen, private event,” Tendo says, even though his tone is teasing, not mean. “Daddy let you come out and play?”

“Fuck you, Choi, I do what I want,” Chuck says, straddling the bench and unwrapping his sandwich. 

“What happened to the Striker Eureka victory parade?” Newton says. Chuck glares at him.

“It’s quieter here,” Chuck says. What he means he hates the PR junket, prefers leaving it to his dad, who hates it too but is left to deal with it anyway. “What are you nerds talking about it anyway?”

“Swords,” Mako cuts in.

“Who needs ‘em? Now, lightsabers, how come no one’s invented a working model by now?” Chuck offers.

“Swords,” Mako looks at Newton, who looks at the TV. It’s muted but Voltron’s doing his final move sequence.

“We don’t have to pull it out if it doesn’t have to be pulled out—“ Mako starts sketching out a spec on her tablet with a stylus.

“—whoa, whoa, whoa, you’re talking about a multi-linked, segmented weapon—“

“—made from flexible metal, maybe gold titanium alloy—“

“—that is extremely expensive, not to mention rare to get in the amount you would need to forge a sword that large—“ Tendo shakes his head.

“It’ll be a finishing move.” Mako says to Tendo. “You were the one who said we should consider weapons upgrades.”

“Yeah, like, wrist missiles or something! Not a goddamn chain sword.”

“Chain Sword. Chain. Sword. Chain sword, chain sword, chain sword,” Newton chants, banging his spoon on the table to the beat.

Mako’s communicator beeps. The ID says Sensei. “I’ve got to go. Chain sword.” She says, as a goodbye to Tendo, who’s rolling his eyes.

“What a bunch of nerds. Lightsabers, now we’re talking,” Chuck says, jabbing his spoon in Newton’s face.

“Now who’s a stupid nerd, ya stupid nerd!”

They get Gipsy Danger up to basic running condition in a year. Dr. Caitlin Lightcap travels to Anchorage to help them re-engineer the Pons system. The Conn-pod was in the worst shape, one half of it almost completely decimated by the kaiju attack. Dr. Gottleib’s updated the interface and has almost finished completing its command software. 

Chuck and his dad come up from Hong Kong to test the Pons. Chuck looks decidedly grumpy with the prospect but they are the most readily available team at the moment. Mako knows that Herc Hansen alone is enough—his pilot record is one of the best and longest. Herc’s strength is his Drift compatibility is near universal, able to drift with 80% of most pilot-candidates and he’s spent his early Ranger days traveling to help test Jaeger tech. He’s piloted every generation of Jaeger thus far and they owe him more than he knows.

In contrast, Chuck can only drift with his dad, so in a way Herc’s pigeonholed into being the only available co-pilot for his son. It’s ironic the way Chuck treats his dad outside the Jaeger and yet trusts only Herc to move the Striker with him. It isn’t Mako’s place to tell them so but she understands the Hansens the more she works with them.

After they finish testing and reset the drop, the Hansens come out of the Gipsy Danger bickering as usual.

“Good job, gentlemen,” Pentecost tells them, when they return to the LOCCENT. “What did you think?”

Chuck opens his mouth but then catches Mako’s eye. “It’s a piece of junk.” He aggrandizes and then turns on his heel and leaves. 

Herc sighs. “It works great. You did a wonderful job, Miss Mori. Sorry about my son there.”

“To be honest, sir, it’s as close to a compliment as I’ll ever get.” Mako allows. They bow to each other and Herc leaves the LOCCENT.

They bring Gipsy Danger to Hong Kong and Mako is left to leave her again as she helps chase down the other Jaegers being recalled to the last Shatterdome standing. 

Marshal Pentecost, Herc, Tendo, and Mako meet to discuss the fate of Gipsy and their next move. Dr. Gottleib’s latest reports of when the next kaiju event will be are disturbing at best. They won’t be ready if they do nothing. The plan is to close the breach.

“She’s ready,” Mako says. _I’m ready_ , she means. _Ready to pilot Gipsy Danger._

“She needs a pilot,” Herc says, hazarding a glance at Mako.

“A co-pilot,” Mako says. It bothers her that Marshal Pentecost isn’t necessarily acknowledging her words. 

“I’m going to get her a pilot. No promises.” Marshal Pentecost says.

“Who did you have in mind?” Herc asks.

“Raleigh Becket.”

The room explodes at once. “He’s been off the grid for years!” Herc says.

“I dunno, sir, he may be unfit for duty,” Tendo says, over Herc.

“I’ve been following his whereabouts for a year or so,” the Marshal says. “He’s not our only option.”

“No, absolutely not,” Mako says, knowing what Sensei is getting at. 

“Please give Miss Mori and I a moment, if you would, gentlemen,” the Marshall asks Tendo and Herc. They leave his office and Mako spots Chuck pacing the hallway, waiting for his dad.

“We do not have too many choices,” Sensei says. “I won’t insult your intelligence by bringing up the obvious but—“

“You’re thinking of taking me off the roster. After all I have done, all the time I have waited patiently, I deserve her! I waited!” Mako explodes. “I know everything about her, please, Sensei.” She pleads, her eyes wet but stubbornly refusing to let the tears fall.

“I cannot let you endanger yourself needlessly, Mako,” Sensei says. He leans back in his chair. “All I ask is that you let me explore every possible option. I won’t have you hurt or put at risk, Mako.”

Sensei very rarely uses that tone or even addresses her by her first name. That stops her.

“Yes sir.”

“Put together your MOP for Gipsy Danger. Be prepared to brief Raleigh Becket when I bring him in. Prepare the list of potential candidates.”

“Yes sir.”

“Hold on, Mako, your time will come. We have to make a new world or die trying.”

They lose a few more Jaeger during the Mutavore attack and Mako has to watch Chuck crow about the Striker Eureka’s tenth kill on TV. But even with that under their belt, they’re down to four Jaegers. Three and a half, with Gipsy still benched.

The day after, Stacker Pentecost gets off the chopper with Raleigh Becket in tow and the game changes.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. I wanted to write a story that explores the interactions of the PPDC starring Mako and speculates what happens during Jaeger Academy and between Gipsy's salvation from Oblivion Bay and the 3 year gap between that and Operation Pitfall. Comments welcome, of course. :)
> 
> 2\. Jaeger Academy is one year basic training and drift testing before deployment or specialization, kind of Starfleet style, in my head.
> 
> 3\. Sticking to the official timeline as much as possible but plenty of liberties still taken. I’m working around the premise that Mako was 13 (according to timeline) at the time of the Onibaba attack. The timeline of the Striker Eureka has been fudged a little! Creative license!
> 
> 4\. I completely bullshat my way around the Jaeger bushido stuff. In my head, it’s mostly MMA of karate, judo/jujitsu and wing chun so I stuck with the basic. If you want to kind get into the feel of the fights, here was my peg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upwyWKzozII


End file.
